WASHINGTON —
Bulawayo has the least number of unemployed people in the country with Harare coming a distant third, according to the final 2012 national census.

The census shows that the city has 430,972 people aged 15 years and above with 61 percent of them economically active, but 27 percent of them are unemployed.

The census report, which put the total figure of the national population at 13 million, also shows that the city has the highest number of unmarried but eligible people.

Mashonaland Central has the highest number of married couples at 64 percent.

The report also shows that 19 percent of the population are lodgers while 59 percent people live in their own houses.

“The proportion of households not using electricity in the country was 56 percent. The proportion of households occupying dwelling units with electricity ranged from 19 percent in Masvingo to 91 percent in Bulawayo,” reads the report.

Reacting to these reports, independent economistst Walter Nsununguli Mbongolwane who the figures of those unemployed is nothing new.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions says the standard of living for most families in the country continues deteriorating, especially in the Bulawayo and Matabeleland regions, where more companies halt operations and others scale-down; retrenching hundreds of workers in the process.

This comes at a time when the Hwange Colliery Company says it will start retrenching 1,500 workers from next month out of its 3,200 work-force. The company retrenched 304 workers in 2012.

Reason Ngwenya, chairman of the ZCTU western region said his organization frequently mitigates in retrenchment-related disputes.